Investing in...

Your social mission.
What makes you different.
Growing your organisation.

Frequently asked questions

What does the fund hope to achieve?

The Fund hopes to tackle the structural barriers to social investment, as highlighted by the Adebowale Commission, which found that despite £600m of public investment since 2010, the social investment market remained unchanged. In the first 5 years, we hope that:

• 120 Social Purpose Organisations can access support and we hope to make 50-60 investments. We anticipate this averaging out to between 10 - 15 investments a year (depending on size).
• 480,000 people per year can benefit from the Social Purpose Organisations that we support
• Social Investment market changes as a result, and we will be sharing our learnings from the fund publicly through our blog and wider publications to support this.

Who has invested in the fund?

The fund is backed by major partners:

• Bank of America
• Access - the Foundation for Social Investment
• Big Society Capital
• Greater Manchester Combined Authority
• University of Edinburgh
• Scope
• Trust for London
• Joseph Rowntree Foundation
• Charities Trust
• Barrow Cadbury Trust
• Nick Marple, the renowned philanthropist

How long will the fund be available for?

The Growth Impact Fund is designed to be evergreen, meaning it aims to be self-sustaining and ongoing, with no defined end date.

What does the fund offer social purpose organisations?

The Growth Impact Fund was designed to do things differently. We support social purpose organisations by offering both financial and practical business assistance. We offer investment between £50k- £1.5 million in a flexible way which can take the form of:

• Equity
  We invest in your business in exchange for a share of ownership in the company. This could be right for you if you're looking for exponential growth and a long-term partner. Equity Range: Between £50k and £500k.
• Revenue share
  We invest in your business and get repaid based on a percentage of your revenue that gets paid back to us. We also offer flexible financing for those with CLG structures and where debt isn't suitable or organisations that may struggle to seek a traditional ‘exit’. Revenue Share Range: Between £50k and £750k.
• Patient debt
  Long-term loan with the expectation of repayment with interest. We invest in your business and get repaid based on a fixed repayment. Debt Range: £500k up; targeting £750k.

We offer organisations different funding types so they can find what is suitable for their business, which might not be traditional debt. If you are looking for something specific, for example a Sharia compliant investment, then please talk to your Investment Manager so we can help guide you through the options.

How do organisations apply?

Anyone is interested in applying for investment or pre-investment grant support should complete the form on the Growth Impact Fund website.

Support preparing for investment

We also acknowledge some Social purpose organisations are looking for additional funding and development support before looking to raise finance. As a result, we also offer:

• Up to £15,000 of grant funding to cover additional support and personal expenses.
• The grants can be used for business costs e.g., consultancy costs, marketing costs, social impact support costs, IT systems etc.
• Personal costs could include a salary for the entrepreneur or a team member, care costs, travel, translation costs etc.
• Everyone we work with also has access to our social investment templates and resources to help guide them and provide transparency across the process.

Why do you use the term 'racialised communities'?

We use the term 'racialised communities' as opposed to BAME (Black Asian and Minority Ethnic). We think that BAME ignores the full spectrum of ethnicities and cultural identities, implying that everyone that falls within this term is the same. 'Racialised' doesn't define the community or the identity, but rather the phenomenon that has happened to them.

Is the fund Shariah compliant?

We would always work with investees to try to accommodate their needs, this includes structuring an investment in a way that suited their business. We have not been advised by an Imam on the structuring of our investment documentation or structure. Equity and Revenue Share investments by their nature are not interest bearing, and we would be open to a conversation on your specifications for any financial support.